The invention described herein relates generally to a method and device for treating tissue detachment which uses direct fusion. In particular, the invention is directed to a method and device for treating tissue detachment such as retinal detachment, the method reduces or eliminates the reliance on wound healing and reduces the potentially detrimental inflammatory response, although the scope of the invention is not necessarily limited thereto.
Tissues sometimes detach from each other due to injury or other pathology. One example is retinal detachment, a disorder in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to vision loss and blindness.
The role of a peripheral retinal tear in the causation of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) was popularised by Jules Gonin in 1904. Gonin subsequently developed the first successful technique for retinal detachment repair utilising a white hot metal probe passed through a scleral incision. The thermal injury of the retina and adjacent retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and choroid formed a watertight barrier between the subretinal space and the vitreous cavity. Thermal injury remains the basis for all retinal detachment repair, ranging from the historic hot metal probe to penetrating diathermy, and now contemporary cryo-retinopexy and laser treatment.
Traditional retinal detachment repair utilizes wound healing to create new (granulation) tissue to obliterate the subretinal space to seal the retinal tear margins. Laser or cryoretinopexy creates inflammation of both the retina and RPE. Scleral buckling or tamponade with gas or silicone oil “clamps” both injured tissues together while the wound heals. An improved technique of retinal repair is required.